1.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time

2.
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
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Lord Lieutenant was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 till the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the office, under its various names, was often more generally known as the viceroy, from the French vice roi or deputy king, and his wife was known as the vicereine. The government of Ireland in practice was usually in the hands of the Lord Deputy up to the 17th century, although in the Middle Ages some Lords Deputy were Irish noblemen, only men from Great Britain, usually peers, were appointed to the office of Lord Lieutenant. The Kings representative possessed a number of overlapping roles and he was the representative of the King, the head of the executive in Ireland, a member of the English or British Cabinet, the font of mercy, justice and patronage, commander-in-chief in Ireland. His Government exercised effective control of parliament through the exercise of the powers of patronage, namely the awarding of peerages, baronetcies. Critics accused successive viceroys of using their power as a corrupt means of controlling parliament. On one day in July 1777, Lord Buckinghamshire as Lord Lieutenant promoted 5 viscounts to earls,7 barons to viscounts, under-Secretary for Ireland, The head of the civil service in Ireland. Lord Justices, Three office-holders who acted in the Lord Lieutenants stead during his absence, the Lord Justices were before 1800 the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, and the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh as Primate of All Ireland. Lords Lieutenant were appointed for no set term but served for His/Her Majestys pleasure, in reality that meant for as long as wished by the British Government. Where a ministry fell, the Lord Lieutenant was usually replaced by a supporter of the new ministry, until the 16th century, Irish or Anglo-Irish noblemen such as the 8th Earl of Kildare and the 9th Earl of Kildare traditionally held the post of Justiciar or Lord Deputy. Following the plantations, however, noblemen from Great Britain were given the post, the last Irish Catholic to hold the position was Lord Tyrconnell from 1685–91, during the brief Catholic Ascendancy in the reign of James II that was ended by the Williamite war in Ireland. Until 1767 none of the latter lived full-time in Ireland, instead they resided in Ireland during meetings of the Irish Parliament. However the British cabinet decided in 1765 that full-time residency should be required to enable the Lord Lieutenant to keep a eye on public affairs in Ireland. The office was restricted to members of the Anglican faith, the first Catholic appointed to the post since the reign of the Catholic King James II was in fact the last viceroy, Lord FitzAlan of Derwent, in April 1921. His appointment was possible because the Government of Ireland Act 1920 ended the prohibition on Catholics being appointed to the position, FitzAlan was also the only Lord Lieutenant of Ireland ever to hold office when the former Ireland was partitioned into Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland. The post ebbed and flowed in importance, being used on occasion as a form of exile for prominent British politicians who had fallen foul of the Court of St. Jamess or Westminster, on other occasions it was a stepping stone to a future career. Two Lords Lieutenant, Lord Hartington and the Duke of Portland, instead it was the Chief Secretary for Ireland who became central, with he, not the Lord Lieutenant, sitting on occasion in the British cabinet. The official residence of the Lord Lieutenant was the Viceregal Apartments in Dublin Castle, the Geraldine Lords Deputy, the 8th Earl of Kildare and the 9th Earl of Kildare, being native Irish, both lived in, among other locations, their castle in Maynooth, County Kildare

3.
Hugh de Lacy, 1st Earl of Ulster
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Hugh de Lacy, 1st Earl of Ulster was the younger son of Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath. He was a figure in the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. He was created Earl of Ulster in 1205 by King John of England, circa 1189 he was appointed Viceroy of Ireland, a position previously held by his father. He was replaced in 1190 by Guillaume le Petil and he was later reappointed to serve as viceroy from 1205 to 1210. He erected a motte in the 1180s in Carlow, on the site of which Carlow Castle was built in the 13th century. Excavations at Carlow Castle in 1996, found the remains of a series of post-holes inside a ditch, running under the walls of the towered keep. The remains of a corn-drying kiln were found to the north of this and these features were interpreted as representing the remains of the first castle here, whose defences and buildings seem to have been constructed of earth and timber. A reinterpretation of the historical sources suggests that this primary timber castle was built in the early 1180s by Hugh de Lacy for John de Clahull. In 1199, King John of England authorised de Lacy to wage war on John de Courcy, Hugh captured de Courcy in 1204. An account of the capture appears in the Book of Howth, in 1205 King John created him Earl of Ulster and made what was de Courcys territory in Ulster the Earldom of Ulster. He continued the conquest of the north-eastern over-kingdom of Ulaid, building on de Courcys success, with the earldom spanning across the counties of Antrim and Down. He purportedly separated from his first wife and was living adulterously and he had legitimate and natural children. In 1226 his daughter by his first wife married Alan, Lord of Galloway and he secondly married Emmeline de Riddlesford, the daughter of Walter de Riddlesford about 1242. Hugh died in 1242 or 1243, emmelines second marriage was about 1243 with Stephen Longespee, grandson of Henry II of England, by whom she had two daughters, Ela Longespee, Lady of Ashby and Emmeline Longespee, Lady of Offaly. The earldom became extinct at de Lacys death